PUTRAJAYA — The government has abandoned its appeal against a lower court ruling on a Sarawakian woman’s right to use “Allah” in her religious learning.
The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), representing the home ministry, notified the Court of Appeal on April 18 that it does not wish to pursue the appeal.
The High Court, in a landmark decision in 2021, ruled that Jill Ireland could use the word “Allah” in her religious education.
Lawyer Haniff Khatri Abdulla, representing the Selangor, Kedah and the Federal Territories religious councils, said they were only notified of the withdrawal by the AGC this morning.
Last January, the Selangor, Kedah and the Federal Territories religious councils were made amici curiae (friends of the court) after having withdrawn their applications to intervene in the government’s appeal.
In September 2021, the Johor Islamic religious council withdrew a similar application.
On March 10, 2021, the High Court, in a landmark decision, ruled that Ireland can use the word “Allah” for the purpose of religious education in Bahasa Malaysia and her native Melanau language in Sarawak.
Then High Court judge Justice Nor Bee Ariffin said a Dec 5, 1986 home ministry directive to prohibit the use of the words “Allah”, “Baituallah”, “Solat” and “Kaabah” by non-Muslims was illegal and unconstitutional.
She said Ireland had the constitutional right to use and import any publication for her religious education.
The woman filed her judicial review in 2008 but her constitutional challenge was heard in 2017.
In 2008, customs officers at KLIA had seized eight CDs from Ireland titled “Cara Hidup Dalam Kerajaan Allah”, “Hidup Benar Dalam Kerajaan Allah” and “Ibadah Yang Benar Dalam Kerajaan Allah”, which she had brought in from Indonesia en route to Sarawak.
Ireland had initially filed an action to reclaim the CDs, seeking several declaratory reliefs.
In 2014, the High Court ordered the home ministry to return the CDs to her but did not address the constitutional points as it was bound by a Federal Court ruling.
In her ruling, Nor Bee said it could not be disputed that the ban affected Christians in Sabah and Sarawak as they have been using the word “Allah” in religious texts and prayers in their native language for a long time.
“The usage had not caused a threat to public order and national security,” she said, adding that the Christian community in both states had been using the word for about 400 years.
The following year, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court ruling but ordered it to hear Ireland’s application for a declaration that her constitutional right to practise her religion was violated by the restriction or ban of the import of educational materials.
Meanwhile, in an immediate response, the Federal Territories Syariah Bar Council (BPS) president Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar said they regretted the government’s decision to withdraw the appeal.
He added the action was not in line with another previous court ruling in the Titular Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur case that it did not have the constitutional right to use the word “Allah” in its newspaper, “Herald – The Catholic Weekly”.
Zainul said the government should explain why they withdrew the appeal.
